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Wednesday, 8 April 2015

April? 1935 - Terrick to Mary

Dear Old Thing, I asked Miss Hastings for this paper. Miss West hadn't arrived when I got here so I thought I would start & write to you; but I got into an interesting conversation with Mr Lees on the Thespians.Never mind about the pictures, old thing. I know how I should feel if my mother expected one of me that I had already promised to you.You think me a funny person with my communism. I can appreciate it very well because some time ago I should have agreed with you altogether, and up till quite lately I should have agreed with you over such things as chalking blank walls. You see, in communism, the outlook on political methods is totally different from any we have been used to. The Labour Party and the Communist Party say they stand for the freeing of the working-class from exploitation & poverty, but the Labour Party, like the Capitalist parties tries to do things through competing with rich institutions and by organisations (such as Parliament) that have been set up in England by the rich. The Communists, seeing how in past history the labour parties of different countries have always, when a real opportunity of giving power to the people has arisen, turned their back on them & kept capitalism in power, - seeing this & that the only country where socialism is in force is where the workers got power, the communists set out to win power for the working-class. They will have no cooperation with capitalist organisations. They appeal to the workers not to the wealthy or the "cultured". That is why their methods seem repulsive to "cultured" people. The only way to get culture for everyone is by overthrowing the present small cultured minority who try to keep their privileges to themselves.As to revolution, that is not started by the working class. It is the capitalist class in every case who start the fighting when the workers begin to get powerful, by declaring their organisations illegal and shooting them down for maintaining them.AmenTerrick.